


Death Becomes Her

by junko



Series: Chasing Demons [21]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Abusive Partner, Abusive Relationship, Alternate Canon, M/M, Original Character(s), mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-10
Updated: 2012-12-10
Packaged: 2017-11-20 18:59:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/588614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junko/pseuds/junko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Byakuya and Renji are headed back to the Soul Society when they're alerted to the approach of an intruder.  When Byakuya goes to investigate, he makes a startling discovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Death Becomes Her

**Author's Note:**

> I tagged this as "alternate canon," but, to be fair, I'm still writing inside the tiny moment before Ichigo returns to the Human World at the end of the Rescue Arc. However, clearly the story has gone into brand-new territory. I'm going to continue to dance around canon as best I can, but I warn you now that my Muse may demand a full-on canon divergence.

Watching Renji try to use shunpō after their birthday fun made Byakuya more certain than ever that these ‘seminars’ at ‘Sex-a-palooza’ were a good idea for them. The last thing he wanted to do was seriously hurt or maim his lieutenant. Not only would that be horrible for obvious reasons, it would also be mortifying to have to explain to the head captain why Renji would need retirement from service. Byakuya was already anonymously supporting one former lieutenant; the family accountant might begin to wonder exactly how often such a thing could be expected to occur.

At last, they were standing in front of the storage units where they’d leave behind these constricting gigai. As he waited for Renji to dig the key out of his pocket, Byakuya glanced over his shoulder at the alley.

Graffiti splattered several of the other units with rude words and a few were decorated with full murals. Straggles of weeds sprouted from cracks in the concrete. Only one of the street lights was operational. The others had been shattered or were burned out. But there was a bit of ambient light, as the sky was tinted a lighter blue with a dawn that was mere hours away. The city was unusually quiet, though the hiss of traffic could be heard in the distance and a train rattled over nearby tracks.

But, suddenly, Byakuya knew they weren’t alone.

Renji sensed the intruder at the same time. He’d just turned the key, but he paused, his eyes searching behind them. 

“Go in. Come back with Zabimaru,” Byakuya commanded. One of them should be in shinigami form, should the presence turn out to be Hollow or other spiritual hostile. “I’ll investigate in the meantime.”

Renji looked like he wanted to protest, but perhaps he, too, had noticed how hobbled he was in the gigai. Pulling up the door quietly, he nodded sharply, “Yes, sir.”

Byakuya moved slowly through the narrow alley, his back to the storage units, peering carefully into each long shadow. Behind him, he heard the soft thump of Renji’s gigai hitting the floor. The garage-style door whispered up; Renji would be out in a moment. But, just then Byakuya saw a thin, bedraggled figured huddled tightly into a corner. Clothes no more than rags, the person shivered despite the warm end-of-summer air. They seemed to have come some distance and collapsed. Cautiously, Byakuya knelt down some distance away. He was wary because, despite their small size, this person emitted a strong spiritual presence; something about them had the hairs prickling at the nape of his neck. He felt Renji appear at his back, and, somehow, so did the miserable creature crouching in the dark. Wide eyes the color of ripe plums looked up at him and their eyes met soul-to-soul. 

_Hisana._

Behind her trembling gaze there was a small spark of recognition, she blinked and seemed to see both Byakuya and Renji for what they were. “Am I dead?” she asked. Looking right at Renji she added, “Have you come to release me?”

“Sorry. Not quite yet,” Renji said, as he scanned the alley for any further sign of trouble. His hand rested lightly on Zabimaru’s hilt. Quietly, he murmured, “But you must be damn close if you can see me.”

Byakuya found he was having trouble speaking; he could only stare in mute wonder. Could it really be? The new body Hisana’s soul inhabited was very different. She was much taller and thinner, but even though her hair was longer and wavier, one strand always seemed to want to fall across her nose in the most adorable way. But… though the soul of his wife stared back at him, there was something horribly wrong in her gaze—a deadness, a desperation.

Likewise, her face was thin and dirty; she looked like she hadn’t had a proper bath in ages. Was that a bruise on her cheek? Who dared!?

As if in answer to Byakuya’s question, the sound of heavy booted feet echoed in the empty alley. 

“Naoki,” Not-Hisana whispered fearfully, and cowered deeper into herself.

“Come out here,” he bellowed. “I ain’t through with you, bitch!” 

“Oh, but you are,” Byakuya said automatically. He stood up and turned to block the young woman from the man who approached, “Protect her, Renji.”

Byakuya could almost hear the shake of Renji’s head in his light exhale of breath, but he said, “Yes, sir.” To the woman Renji said, “Hey, lady, don’t worry, the captain’s got this. That Naoki guy is toast.”

“No,” she simpered, reaching out to clutch the cuff of Byakuya’s pant leg. “Please don’t hurt him. He’s my husband.”

What?

Byakuya turned to look back at Not-Hisana. His first impulse was to say, ‘how could you, when I have faithfully kept my promises to you all these years?’ Instead, he lightly pulled his leg from her weak grip, “As you wish. If he is hurt, it will not be by my hand.”

Renji glanced up from where he knelt beside Not-Hisana. He gave Byakuya a confused, concerned look, but Byakuya turned away without further explanation to step out into the light.

Naoki, at least that was who Byakuya assumed the brute to be, was exactly as thuggish as expected. At least as tall as Renji, this man was thick with beefy muscle. He wore jeans, but had suit coat over a tee-shirt and some kind of gaudy, golden chain necklace around his throat. His bleached-blond hair was cut in a shaggy style that partly obscured his face.

“Who the fuck are you?” Naoki demanded.

Byakuya lightly stepped into a hakuda stance. If this animal was foolish enough to rush him, Byakuya would use his momentum against him. He could keep his promise to Not-Hisana, by only laying his hands on his assailant enough to divert his blows. Coolly, he said, “I’m the man who refuses to allow you to abuse this person anymore.”

Naoki tried to peer around Byakuya into the darkness where Not-Hisana hid. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared down his nose as though having sized-up Byakuya and finding him wanting. “I kind of think that’s my prerogative, twerp, considering she’s my wife.”

Byakuya’s eyes watched Naoki for any sign of threat, “In this lifetime.”

“Taicho?” Renji took in a hiss of breath. “Oh shit, seriously?”

Something must have clicked deep inside Hisana’s soul because she whispered, “Byakuya-sama?”

His heart leapt to hear his name on those lips again, however changed by the passage of death and rebirth. Byakuya turned to see her staring at him with a combination of surprise and longing.

It truly _was_ her.

The next thing Byakuya knew, there was a clattering and the heavy sound of a body hitting the pavement. Byakuya spun around to see Renji standing over Naoki, who seemed to have been knocked unconscious. Renji was returning a sheathed Zabimaru to the obi at his waist, and giving Byakuya a little grin and a shrug. “He rushed you. Your guard was down, Taicho.”

Meanwhile, Not-Hisana came crawling forward to cradle Naoki’s head. “What did you do to him, you asshole!?” she demanded of Renji, who stepped out of the way of her flailing fist expertly.

“Oi, no need to get your knickers in a knot, Kuchiki-sama,” he said to her. “Zabimaru pushed his soul out a just little bit. The shock of it made him pass out. He’ll be good as new in an hour or so,” Renji frowned down at Naoki and seemed to be resisting nudging his beefy shoulder with his toe, “Or faster, if he’s got any decent spiritual pressure. Anyway, I thought it was a quick way to give us a little time to figure out what to do with you.”

Renji looked at Byakuya then, as if Byakuya had any idea. There were so many things rushing though his mind. All that came out was, “We can’t leave until I know she’s safe.”

“I guessed that much,” Renji said, still standing guard over Naoki and Not-Hisana. Byakuya noticed he’d taken the time to put his hair back in its bushy topknot. Renji frowned down at the way Not-Hisana was stroking Naoki’s hair, “But, uh, your… wife seems kind of attached to the new husband.”

Byakuya had to actively control the rage that threatened to shatter his gigai, despite the limiter. He wanted to order Renji to slaughter that man this instant and in the most painful way possible, since the brute clearly had failed his duty as a husband if Hasana was in such a battered and abused state. What kind of man dressed so well, but left his wife in rags?

Renji, thankfully, seemed to have a cooler head in this situation. He knelt down by Hisana and gently asked, “Can we help take him home and get you to a hospital or something? I hate to be blunt, Kuchiki-sama, but you’re half-dead. I’m thinking if we don’t do something with you soon, we’re going end up escorting you to the Rukongai, after all.” He glanced up at Byakuya then, as if he needed reminding that they’d have to surrender her there to processing. Renji returned his attention to Not-Hisana, who was listening to him with wide, half-understanding eyes. Renji sighed, “I know my birthday ended several hours ago, but I really wanted to get back before dealing with crap like this. ‘Cause, frankly, lady, I ain’t up to sending your poor soul to that shithole Inuzuri again.”

And Byakuya would never allow it. 

“There’s a clinic nearby,” Renji said, with another quick glance at Byakuya. They both knew who ran it. The information had been part of Rukia’s case file. “Why don’t you let me carry hubby there and you and Captain Kuchiki can walk together?”

She nodded meekly and removed her hands from Naoki. Renji slung Naoki over his back in a fireman’s carry. “Follow me,” Renji said. 

As he walked past, Byakuya could see Renji’s lips were set in a grim, determined line. But, with Renji ahead by several steps that left him with Hisana. Byakuya offered his hand, “My lady?”

She pulled herself up on unsteady legs with his help. Byakuya found, in fact, that he had to slip an arm around her waist in order to support her weight. The nearness of her reistsu made his heart ache. She seemed to sense it, too. “Why do I feel like I know you?”

“We were together in another life,” Byakuya explained.

“’Another life…?’” She seemed to struggle with this idea for only a second before nodding, as though in understanding. “Is that why your ghost-friend keeps calling me ‘Kuchiki-sama’? Was that my name?”

“Yes,” Byakuya said, feeling an odd sort of vindication being able to reassure Hisana, who had been so maligned by his family, that she was once the Lady Kuchiki, “Though, in private, I called you Hisana.”

“Hisana,” she tried out. Then, she nodded in Renji’s direction, “And I knew him, too, right?”

Byakuya frowned, “No, you certainly did not.”

“You’re sure?” Not-Hisana asked, “Because I know I’ve seen those tattoos somewhere before. He’s got stripes all over. Yeah,” she said smiling to herself, “and a hot body. I’m sure I’ve seen him naked. And you, too,” she brightened, looking Byakuya up and down appreciatively, “Hmmm, or maybe that was only in my dreams.”

What was this? Could Hisana’s soul be connected to Sode no Shirayuki somehow? Could they have shared visions, just as Rukia seemed to have dreamed of Hisana’s memories? 

Not-Hisana gave him a wickedly penetrating smile and teased, “You know…. I usually find that whole ‘I knew you in a past life’ pick-up line awfully cheesy,” she tucked her arm more securely around his, “But, spooky or not, you do the whole knight in shining armor thing well.” Then, she laughed brightly, until it turned into a coughing fit that had her doubled-over and grasping her ribs, “Of course, it helps that you come with a ghost bodyguard.”

“Renji is my lieutenant,” Byakuya said, helping her back upright. _And my lover_ , though he found he couldn’t say that last part out loud.

“So you’re a ghost, too?” She said, pinching the fabric of his shirt and the flesh of the gigai underneath it. “Or do you just command a ghost army?”

In a way he did. But, he could hardly say that. “We should concentrate on getting you to Kurosaki Clinic.”

“You’re a funny one, Byakuya,” she said, peering up at him. “You’ve got a ghost lieutenant and your word choices and sentence construction are totally archaic. Where are you from? Or are you some kind of university professor?”

Given the games he and Renji had just been playing, Byakuya found himself blushing a bit at that suggestion. He shook his head, “I’m afraid you’re mistaken. I’m…” Byakuya stopped; it wouldn’t make sense to explain his rank and division. “Let’s say, for simplicity’s sake, that I’m not from around here.”

Not-Hisana let out a little laugh, “Yeah. I'd say. Currently, I’m kind of hoping either I’m dreaming this whole thing again or this is all part of those live-action role-playing games some people are into and your friend is just happens to be really, really good at cosplaying a samurai ghost.”

Byakuya found himself smiling along with her. Just like always with Hisana, it was easy to get swept up in her funny observations and quirky charm. She may have become an entirely new person, but, somehow, she was still the same woman he fell in love with.

Renji, who was a half-block ahead of them, paused to glance back over his shoulder at their progress. He tipped his head to indicate that they’d nearly come to the clinic. It was, in fact, just across the T-intersection they’d come to. 

It was a well-maintained two-story building, with a welcoming blue sign with white lettering over an official-looking front entrance. Most of the lights were off, but there was a dim glow in the entryway that seemed welcoming. Byakuya wasn’t sure he wanted anything to do with a place associated with Ichigo Kurosaki, but it seemed they had little choice. 

Renji had waited for them to catch up. Just as they started across the road together, a voice called out, “You-hoo!”

At the sight of a stranger in a striped bucket hat and green gi and black haori, Renji instantly dumped Naoki’s unconscious body and reached for Zabimaru. Byakuya put a restraining hand on his arm when he saw the black cat that trotted beside him. 

“Kisuke Urahara,” Byakuya said.

At the same time, from a second story window in the clinic a familiar orange head poked out of a window to look down at them.

Byakuya frowned, “Ichigo?”

“Oh, no, just his body,” Urahara explained casually as he came up beside them, his hand holding his hat on his head. Coughing into his hand he added, “and a mod soul. But that’s not important!” He cheerily redirecting the conversation, “What’s really important is that we get you two shinigami home in time for breakfast and before you completely upset the natural order of the universe. I'll take things from here."


End file.
